BirdingInSpain

Wallcreepers and wall-clingers

I counted 40 rock climbers actually clinging to the rock faces at the Mallos de Riglos one Sunday morning in November. And 4 Wallcreepers, one per 10 rock-climbers. So, I have to admit it, it seems that the Wallcreepers are relatively unfazed by these rival rock-clingers.

Happy birders at riglos after seeing Wallcreepers

Riglos is the only place where I have seen 3 or 4 Wallcreepers in a single morning. I’ve even heard Wallcreepers singing here, and watched them make sullies from the safety of the rock face to trap a flying insect before returning to a ledge to dismember and swallow it. I’ve seen Wallcreepers  chasing each other in what I interpret as a struggle to assert their dominance over a temporary winter territory.

Riglos has been good to me over the last two decades. Nevertheless, I can’t help feeling nervous as we park in the car park and I raise my binoculars to survey the majesty and the extent of the rock faces here. And do I really believe that the Wallcreeper, with all that rock at its disposal, will hop and flit around just above our heads? Why should it bother?

Riglos cliffs and church

Fortunately, the birders and photographers that I escort here behave with the right sense of occasion. They too eagerly scan the rock faces up and down, left to right, and blessed be he or she who first calls out “Wallcreeper!” or “There’s one!”. I hurriedly raise my binoculars to check that it is indeed a Wallcreeper and not a Black Redstart or an Alpine Accentor and give my thumbs up and an almost audible sigh of relief. Yes, today I’m a believer! Again!

As a special treat you can click here Gorgeous Wallcreepers chapter  and download the free chapter on Wallcreepers from the book “Flying over the Pyrenees, standing on the plains”.